OMG! After I read your reply, I suddenly realised how what I said could have been misconstrued. What I meant to say was that after years of watching Hollywood use women in a highly sexualised way and sometimes only giving them one dimensional characters, it was a complete breath of fresh air to see the female characters in IB take complete control of every single scene they were in. 'Manly' may not have been the right word, more so in control of all their faculties, no one was going to make them do something they didn't want to. Believe me, I much prefer strong female characters, I see them actually as more realistic than male. That is what I meant of Kruger and Laurent's characters in IB, they were so powerful and their dialogue really controlled the path of the film, while at the same time managing to be in complete control of their sexuality.
But hey! at the end of the day, the ideology still stands in the institution of Hollywood about women and sex, but it takes performances like IB's to break them...

Apple Strudel, Landa, the Basterds... I seem to be in the minority who wanted a longer cut of IB. Not only did I think that good old QT bettered his last few efforts, I may even go so far as to say this may be my favourite (between this and Dogs).
I thought the acting was exquisite, the dialogue was distinctly trademark of a QT production, the story was fascinating and the entire feel of the story was (lost for words, can't quite find or remember a good enough descriptive word!). What many forget to remember is that QT is a fanboy, he enjoys film from yesteryear and his entire work (as a whole) is a homage to the thing he loves. Why does the finale of IB, perhaps the most amazing QT scene of all with the burning cinema take place in the cinema? Because without is, QT just wouldn't know what to do with himself.
It's a parody of WWII which I would hope many people would actually accept, he changes the history but so what if it's historically incorrect, when has anything of his actually been any semblance of reality, coming from the director who wrote the bank heist film without ever showing the heist!
I agree with many that Waltz's acting was a highlight, fingers crossed for a Supporting Academy Award, and even the use of Pitt was good. His didn't over shadow but was just right. The humour used was a great touch on the tough subject (re. Italian language). And the two main women in the film were just manly enough not to feel that they should be seen and not heard.
At the end of the day, loved the film, want the DVD and want to watch all over again...